Card Legality

Overview

As a general rule, a card is legal for tournament play as soon as it is officially released in a Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME product.

To find out when a card is legal, you can look up its corresponding product release date on the Products page, or search for the card individually via the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Card Database. Certain products may be released at different dates in different regions.

Cards that are reprinted in an upcoming product but were already made legal in a previously released product remain tournament legal regardless of the new product’s release date.

Language

Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG cards printed in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish and Portuguese can be played in any TCG territory.

Cards printed in Japanese, Korean, Chinese or “Asian English” (ie: Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG cards) can only be played in Asian territories and are not legal for use in Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG events.

Forbidden & Limited Cards

In addition to the legality rules outlined on this page, certain cards are restricted to less than the usual 3 copies per Deck. For a full list of these cards please check the Forbidden & Limited Cards List.

Event-Specific Legalities

On very rare occasions, a major tournament will take place on the same weekend that a product containing new cards is released. As many players could be travelling in the days prior to that tournament they may not have an opportunity to purchase the new product and are put at a disadvantage to local Duelists who can easily obtain said product.

In situations like this, cards from a certain product may be declared not legal for that specific event only. If that is the case such information will be made publicly known before the event, either via a news announcement or an update to that event’s FAQ page. If no announcement is made prior to the start of the event, you can assume that the newly-released cards will be legal for that event.

Prize Cards

Promotional cards awarded as prizes (such as Sneak Peek Promotional Cards or Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series Prize Cards) are not legal for play in a region until an event takes place in said region awarding such a card.

Promotional Cards

Promotional cards from books and videogames become legal on the date that their corresponding product becomes available in said region.

Promotional cards that are reprinted in a future product become legal when that product releases, regardless of the availability of their original versions.

Cards not Legal for play in Europe

The following cards are not legal for tournament play in Europe, as they have not been released in a product that is available in that region. Some of these cards may become legal in future if they are reprinted in a future product, at which point they will be removed from this list.